We Don't Have To Be Alone Anymore
by KenjiMania
Summary: A prequel to No Nightmares, Just Dreams. This little story explains how Baird and Sam began their relationship that is told in the No Nightmares, Just Dreams one-shot. Rated M for strong language.


**We Don't Have To Be Alone Anymore**

**A Baird and Sam Story**

**Author's Note:** Here's my second GoW story. Another oneshot taking place before the hotly anticipated Gears 3 coming out next month, a friendly reminder to all fans.

This is a prequel before my first story "No Nightmares, Just Dreams" featuring this highly unlikely paring of Damon Baird and Sam Byrne.

Thanks for reading and if you review, thanks, but don't be too worried about doing so.

And finally, this story is dedicated to Black-Fl0wer.

Now on with the story!

Another bullshit day.

What else was new?

Damon Baird took a deep breath. He'd been busy since moving here to Vectes a few months ago. Fixing plenty of broken and shoddy equipment, vehicles that had shitty engines, guns that were malfunctioning and even a toilet needed fixing. He couldn't catch a break, and if he asked, he wouldn't get one.

But he liked it that way. He had some work to do afterall.

Today, he was putting the finishing touches on a portable generator that would be used for the small school that was starting up in a week. He was asked if he could build one, reluctantly, he agreed to build one from scratch, it didn't help that a certain brunette talked him into building the generator during the meeting with the school employees. He was offered help, but refused, he could do things by himself and at a faster pace.

He liked keeping to himself. It was his nature. Being around Delta was necessary for survival and winning this now dormant war with the Locust. Yet, he only really cared to hang around his only true friend Augustus Cole, but even then, he'd probably get irritated with him pretty quickly. Marcus Fenix, the leader, he was a dick, but so was he, maybe that's why they got along so well on occasion. Anya Stroud, the former Control Operator and Lieutenant, he liked her too, but that was Marcus' woman. Dom Santiago, well, they never saw eye to eye, but they tolerated each other.

Jace Stratton, he liked the kid, kind-hearted and true to himself. There weren't enough of those people anymore, and the world definitely needed someone like him around.

But there was one person that stuck to him like glue or body parts on a chainsaw bayonet.

Samantha Byrne. The short-haired brunette that he couldn't resist staring at. When they first arrived on the island, he had met her. He couldn't believe how impressive she looked in her armor or how she fired her Lancer so accurately, hell, even her Rat Bike, piece of shit it was, was pretty damn efficient. Of course, as if on cue with everything else is his life, everything went downhill.

They didn't get along at first, no surprise, women and him didn't exactly get off on the right foot. He never had relationships that lasted longer than three months. Usually, it was his fault or the woman left him for someone else before everything went downhill. Yet, for some reason, they actually recovered quickly from their rough first meetings and developed something of a mutual respect for one another. He wasn't quite sure how to explain it to himself, but he'd figure out why someday.

He placed his wrench back in his toolbox, he just finished attaching the grating that would keep the generator cool. He looked at the time, it was 6:57, the sun would set in about 75 minutes. He knew he was the only one who kept track of daylight savings, someone had too.

He stood up from his swivel chair and kicked it back to his desk. Placing his toolbox back in the cabinet of tools he had, dusting himself off and then he turned to his sink and washed up and then shut off the lights and walked out. He lowered the rollaway gate and locked it. He pocketed the key and straightened his shirt.

He sighed. Tonight was going to be a boring night. He didn't feel like going to find the others and hang out with all of them at the bar. He figured he'd take a long walk and then head to his quarters, drink some beer, take a shower and then get some sleep. He knew Sam would be with Cole and the rest, but he wanted no part of her tonight.

Maybe tomorrow night, but not tonight.

He chuckled. He kept track of so many things in his life, he actually kept track of the number of times he and Sam slept together.

Ten times.

That was the number of times they had sex. He enjoyed it too, it was a 'friends with benefits' deal and it wasn't anymore than that or maybe it was more of a 'fuck buddy' deal. They had agreed to it being either one after the second go around. That was a month ago.

He started walking to wherever, but stopped. He heard footsteps on the gravel.

"Well, look who finally decided to get out."

Baird didn't turn around. He knew it was her. There goes that plan of avoiding her tonight. What exactly did she want?

"Yeah. Generator is done, gonna bring it to the school tomorrow morning." He still didn't turn around. He was glad that she didn't see the annoyed look on his face.

Sam smiled. "Great."

She started to walk up to him. Tonight she wanted to spend sometime with him and wouldn't let his anti-social behavior drive her away, though she never allowed that to be the case.

Baird turned his head slightly and saw her walking up and turning to look at him. Damn, she was gorgeous, she wasn't wearing her headband, but what she was wearing made him stare longer than he liked.

She was wearing a black tanktop that accentuated her ample breasts and flat, toned stomach nicely and the pair of blue jeans that she wore were tight around her legs and he knew it made her nice ass even nicer. He ached to tear her clothes off and fondle her. But he resisted.

"So." Sam said smiling. She knew he was staring, but he was a man, so it made perfect sense.

"So?" Baird was focused on her eyes.

"What were you gonna do tonight?" Sam was curious as to Baird's plans, she wanted an opportunity to talk to him, something they didn't do very often, even with the sex. Though when they did talk, it was usually filled with negativity but she wanted it be different for once and tonight would be the start.

Baird sighed. "I was going to take a long walk and turn in early. You?"

With a twinkle in her eyes Sam replied. "I was hoping we could take a walk together to my quarters and maybe have some tea."

Baird was taken slightly aback. Tea? In her quarters? Would it lead to their eleventh time? And pillow talk afterwards? They did twice before, first when they agreed to have sex every few nights or so and the last time when they just felt like talking about random shit.

He took a deep breath. Something was up; he just knew it.

"If that's what you want."

Sam jumped up like a girl who was asked out by the hottest and most popular guy in school. She grinned and wrapped her right arm around his left.

"Thanks, Damon."

Baird shot her a glare, he definitely didn't like being called by his first name in public. He liked it when he was called by his last name. Sam just looked at him, smiled, and ignored his glare and tugged him and headed towards her quarters.

"Come on, dickhead, let's go."

He groaned; this wasn't going to be an easy task to get away from this. But this would probably earn him brownie points for being a good boy.

As they started the walk towards her quarters, Baird noticed how it was rather quiet for seven at night. The Kryll had been gone for years and there weren't any Wretches to worry about, nor emergence holes. Being an island in the middle of sea definitely helped.

"It's pretty quiet." Sam broke the few minutes of silence as they walked. "Maybe everyone had the same idea as you."

"Sure."

Sam looked at his face; he was clearly not in the mood to talk to her. It upset her; he had to act like this? She usually focused her negative energy towards him, but tried to hold that back recently, especially since they started sleeping together. But what she planned tonight had taken almost a week's worth of thought and courage to do this.

Sam took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she was about to say to him. She didn't want any negativity tonight, but sadly, she knew it would come down to that.

"Listen." She said sternly, she stopped and let go of his arm and turned to look at him, he did the same. "I'm not putting up with this bullshit from you tonight." There was anger in her voice.

She noticed Baird's stoic expression, but she could see the look of surprise in his eyes. She continued.

"Don't act like a dick to me tonight! Not tonight! I'm in a terrific mood and just want a chance to spend time with you. No fucking, and then we go our separate ways after that. And then act like nothing happened when we see each other again." She paused and took another breathe. His stoic expression remained, but she saw something in his eyes that gave away what he was feeling.

She pressed on and let her anger at him out one more time.

"Can't you stop being such an asshole for once? Just one fucking night? Is it hard? Is it?"

She stopped, her anger was out, but it still lingered, she wanted Baird to take it all in.

He turned his head for a second and didn't look at her. They didn't exactly have an easy relationship, she always turned her aggression towards him, but there had been times recently where it wasn't bad anymore. This was the first time in awhile that she acted this way to him.

He looked at her again, her face showed her anger still, but he could tell it was dissipating. They stood and stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity. He finally decided to break the silence.

"Sorry. I'll work harder to make things easier."

Sam's eyes widened slightly. Baird said sorry to her? A first. And he was going to work harder? Another first. Two small starts, but it was worth it. Her face softened and she allowed a small smile to appear.

"Apology accepted."

She wrapped her arm in his again. They continued to her quarters, which was opposite of the building that he was in.

As they walked towards her door, Baird noted that there were many small flower beds growing in the front of many quarters. He figured that many of the Gears or residents found time to grow things. Another sign people were working for a future, whatever that would be.

She turned the key on her doorknob and opened it. She walked in first and flipped on the lights. It was a small quarter, though enough for two people to live inside. There was a full size bed in the middle of the room with only two pillows and a thin sheet and a beat-up divut and above the bed was a window with beat-up curtains, but sufficient to block the view of the outside world.

Baird stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He noted the small side table that served as her desk and a makeshift chair. He saw in the corner beside the table was her tattoo making equipment. She took great pride in her work and was more than happy to make tattoos for any of the Gears who asked.

He looked over and on the right of the bed was her small closet of clothes and her COG armor and equipment as well, her Lancer and Snub pistol leaned against the open door. He noted that she had a pretty decent sized wardrobe that had taken up half the space inside.

He looked over and saw Sam walking over to her small kitchenette. Featuring a tiny stove, small fridge, a tiny sink and a four-shelf cabinet with some food, utensils, plates and cups and cans of coffee and tea. He saw the bathroom door on the left. He didn't dare look inside, he might be tempted to take a shower and ask her to join him. He stood and watched her prepare the necessary items for the tea.

Sam turned and looked at Baird. She smiled at him.

"Go ahead, you can sit on the bed."

Baird simply nodded and sat down on the end of the bed. Sam knew that he was still processing everything that happened earlier with her blowup. Her smile disappeared, she knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she damn sure wasn't going to let this one opportunity pass her by.

She turned on the sink and poured water into the kettle. She than placed it on the stove and started heating it up. She then bent down and grabbed two cups, placed them on the top of the cabinet and pulled two tea bags out and placed them inside. She turned around and looked at Baird. He was watching her the whole time, but remained quiet.

"Cat got your tongue?"

Baird shrugged. "Waiting for the tea, I never drink it much."

Sam smiled. "I'm hoping you'll make it a regular part of your beverage menu."

Baird shrugged again and leaned back slightly, slapping his thighs like drums for a second. "Maybe."

Sam shook her head, it wasn't going to be easy having a conversation with him. But she knew what she had to do tonight and she wasn't going to let him ruin this one chance.

Several minutes went by and they looked at each other in silence. Yet, for whatever reason, it was relaxing and not as awkward as either of them thought it would be.

The silence was broken when the kettle started whistling.

Sam turned and shut off the stove and lifted the kettle up with a small towel around the handle. She carefully poured water into the cups and then placed the kettle down onto the cooler part of the stove and started dipping the tea bags up and down in the cups.

Satisfied with her work, she turned and smiled at Baird, handing him his cup. He took it and nodded, he still had the stoic expression on his face, but she saw the gratitude in his eyes.

"Your welcome."

She sat next to him on the bed. And played with the tea bag a little more. She looked from the corner of her eye and saw Baird dipping his own bag as well. Satisfied with the look of her tea, she stopped and began blowing at the drink to cool it down.

They sat in silence drinking their individual tea. It felt like an eternity before either of them spoke.

Baird finally broke the silence.

"So."

Sam looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Sam sipped her tea, she knew it would get to this point. She took another sip and had breathed deeply, it helped that the tea was delicious and lingered in her mouth and throat.

"Well…."

Sam hesitated, knowing that Baird never liked being bullshitted with, he would get irritated quickly and become even more of an insufferable asshole if he didn't get a straight answer.

"Well?"

Sam sighed holding the cup with both her hands and lowering it between her legs, she stared at the contents. She was ready for this night, it was time to grow up and be an adult about her dealings with him.

"Sam, you wanted to talk to me." Baird was starting to get annoyed and he didn't hide it with his voice. "So what the hell is it?"

He turned his head to look at her and had an irritated look on his face.

"I wanted to talk about…" Sam's voice trailed off again.

Baird was getting more irritated by the minute, he tried to maintain his composure and keep calm, but he was having enough.

"This is bullshit! I can't believe I wasted my time like this." He was about to get up.

Sam immediately spoke before he could stand up.

"I wanted to talk about us."

Baird stopped himself from getting up and looked directly as Sam. He couldn't believe what he heard from her, but for some reason, he didn't feel the least bit upset or bothered by her statement.

"Us?"

Sam turned and looked at him. "Yes."

"And what about us?"

"I've had this feeling that things have been changing between us." Sam inhaled before continuing. "I'm been thinking about how we can be more than what we've been these last few weeks."

Baird just stared at her; his irritation with her had dissipated, but he now had a sneer on his face. "Really? Really?" He was sarcastic as he spoke.

Sam looked at Baird and saw him trying to hold back his laughter. She knew it would be like this, but she at least thought he had a caring bone in his body and may actually be a nice guy deep down.

"It's not funny." She said with a serious tone.

Baird couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing. He rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb trying to stifle the tears coming. "That's the funniest shit I've heard in a long time Sam!"

"I said it's not funny." Sam said through gritted teeth, she was trying to hold back her anger and her hurt. She stood up from the bed and tossed her half empty cup into the sink. She gripped the edge of the sink and tried to hold back the tears forming from her eyes.

Baird looked at her and continued with his grin, he downed the rest of his tea and stood up. He tried to hold back from laughing in her face. "Thanks Sam, I needed that."

Sam didn't stop looking into the sink, she watched as the remainder or her tea went down the drain.

"Hey, hey. Don't feel bad. It was some funny shit, you thinking we could have something more." Baird took a step closer to her. He didn't expect the reaction that was coming next. He chuckled as he moved towards her.

Sam turned quickly to face him and with an angry expression on her face and watering eyes.

"I said it's not fucking funny!" Sam screamed.

Baird took a step back and was shocked at her reaction. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"You always act like this don't you?" Sam let her anger and sadness overcome her. "Always pushing people away! Always caring about yourself and only yourself!"

Baird just stood there in silence. He let her continue.

"Why? Why do you do this to yourself?" Sam took a step towards him as she continued. "Whether you want to believe it or not. There are people who care about you. Namely, me."

Baird's eyes opened more, not in shock, but in surprise at her revelation about how she cared for him. He gripped the empty cup in his hand and ran his other hand through his hair.

Sam took a few deep breathes before continuing; she noticed his demeanor had changed, but that didn't deter her from letting out her emotions.

"Dammit Damon. I care about you! I fucking care about you!"

Baird turned his head away, he couldn't look at her, he felt terrible inside, and yet he couldn't show it. He took his goggles off and tossed them onto her bed.

Sam continued to pour her heart out. "From when I first met you, I had this strange feeling inside me. I never felt something like that before. I realized that regardless of how much of a total fucking asshole you could be. I honestly thought that deep down, you were a nice guy who needed someone."

Baird continued to look away. He thought about her statement, but he wasn't sure why she would care about him. He always kept to himself during downtime and was always private when it came to personal matters. What made her care about him so much?

"Why would you think that about me?"

"Because I know what it's like to be alone." Sam replied with a soft voice. She had calmed down, but was still angry, yet the sadness and hurt inside her had overcome her anger towards him and it showed in her face and voice. "I may have had my Mother to raise me, but I always felt alone, even when I spent time with other people. She took another deep breath. "And finally, Cole told me about your difficult upbringing, your fucked up childhood, how you were almost beaten to a pulp by some assholes in a bathroom while in basic training."

Baird swallowed. Cole had told her about his difficult life, how he and his parents never got along as he grew up. How he wanted to be an engineer and not a soldier. How he never felt love or happiness as a child. Much of it was his fault, but also his parents lack of wanting to raise him with love and care, as most parents should with their kids, drove him to be who he is today.

But that didn't stop him from wondering why Sam was alone. The next few questions were something he knew he had to ask.

"You? Alone?" Baird replied. "What about Santiago? I thought you had a thing for him?"

He brought it up only because she had given Dom, who already had a tattoo of Maria, his late wife, and asked Sam to place angel wings for the tattoo that he already on his right arm. He knew about her flirtations with Dom when they were handing out food a few weeks ago to the civilians.

Baird immediately noticed her surprised reaction. Sam looked away for a moment and then looked at him in the eyes, her facial expression was full of sadness.

"Dom? No, no, no. He's too far gone psychologically after what he's been through. Also, I know he would never betray his love for Maria."

"Oh." That was all he could say in response.

"That's it?" Sam raised her voice again.

Baird ran his hand through his hair roughly. "Yeah, I guess."

Sam finally couldn't take it anymore. "You guess? You can't tell me how you really feel?"

Baird stood in silence and looked her in the eyes. He couldn't admit to the truth that he was alone just like her. Yet, never in his life was he able to express his feelings in any other way besides his anti-social behavior, sarcasm or condescending attitude. He also knew that he did genuinely care for her and worried about her safety. But he just didn't know how to express his feelings for her.

"You can't, can you?" Sam quietly said. Tears were coming down her face again.

There was silence from Baird. He lowered his head and looked down at the empty cup in his hands. Then he heard her come closer. He looked up.

Sam reared her right hand back and slapped Baird across the face, he staggered back, but was able to maintain his balance.

With tears in her eyes, Sam spoke again. "Fine! Fuck you! I tell you how I care about you. How I want to be something more than fuck buddies. And this is how you react?"

As he was rubbing his left cheek, she grabbed the cup from his hand and tossed it in the sink. She then picked up his goggles and shoved them into his chest.

"Fine! Leave! Don't come in here anymore! Don't talk to me unless it's related to duty!"

"Sam…." Baird tried to speak.

"Don't call me 'Sam' anymore! It's Byrne to you! Your not Damon to me anymore! Just Baird! And you know what? I don't give a shit if you die tonight or tomorrow!"

"Sam…." Baird tried again, but he knew how hard this was going to be.

"Get out!" Sam screamed. She then turned around and then hugged herself with her arms. She felt tears streaming like a river down her face. She wanted this night to be perfect, but it ended in failure.

Baird stood and looked at her, he turned to leave. As he reached for the doorknob, something deep inside stopped him. He gripped the doorknob, but let go, he turned the lock on the door and switched the deadbolt up. He placed his goggles onto her small desk and turned around.

He knew it was time for him to be a man. It was time for him to do what his heart told him to do. And that was to comfort Sam, and tell her that she wouldn't be alone anymore, he wouldn't be anymore, neither of them would be from now on.

"Sam." Baird said softly.

She didn't turn around, she was still crying.

"Sam?"

He walked up from behind her. He hesitated to lift his arms up to turn her around and hold her. He then realized that she needed to held right now. He lifted his left arm and gently wrapped it around her left arm.

"Sam, please turn around."

"No." Sam replied through her tears.

He sighed, he started to turn her around himself. Sam started to resist, but Baird was clearly stronger than her and was able to turn her around. She kept resisting.

"Don't touch me!" Sam tried to escape his grasp, she had her combat knife under her pillow, but would only use it as a last resort. "I said go away!"

Baird wouldn't let go, he finally managed to turn her around and then he wrapped his arms around her. She tried to pull away, but she started to stop and let Baird hold her. She cried into his shoulder.

They stood together like this for several moments, before Sam finally spoke.

"Why can't you let people in? Why can't you let me in?" She said between sobs.

Baird held her as tightly as he could, he made small circles between her shoulder blades, he just wanted to hug her and keep her safe. He knew this was the best way to slowly heal the pain she felt and the amount that he felt as well.

She slowly pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "I don't want you to be alone anymore Damon."

Baird looked her in the eyes, he lifted a hand up to wipe the tears from her face. He blinked a few times before finally speaking. "I don't want you to be alone anymore either."

Sam started to form a small smile. She still felt terrible inside, but she could feel her pain slowly going away and being replaced by hope.

"Do you mean that?"

Baird let a small smile of his own form. "Yes, I do."

Sam had an even bigger smile form. "Thank you so much."

Baird smiled and leaned in to peck her on the lips. He felt better than he had in months, no, years.

"Your welcome. If you want us to have something real…" He paused. What he was about to say was something out of character for him, but it was going to be worth it.

"Then I'm more than happy to have something real too."

Sam pulled away and smiled. Tears of joy dropped from her face.

She reached up and kissed him passionately, he responded with the same passion. As they kissed Baird ran many thoughts through his head about where they were going to go from here.

As they pulled away to get some much needed air; Baird was the first to speak up.

"We need to be low key about all this."

Sam blinked a few times and smiled. "Yeah, it's best not to let everyone know, though I'm sure Cole will figure it out soon."

Baird chuckled, they both knew he would find out sooner rather than later, but that was fine, he'd keep it a secret too.

Sam placed her head on his chest and sighed contentedly. Baird held her and started running through what was the best things to do as a couple. He had an idea.

"Sam?"

She looked up from his chest. "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna come with me to deliver the generator tomorrow?" Baird knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her say it.

Sam had huge smile on her face. "I'd love to. And you know that would be our first thing we'd do together as a couple?"

Baird had a huge smile on his face too. "That's why I asked."

They chuckled, then Sam pulled Baird onto the bed. As they fell together and continued their kissing, it was soft and gentle, and it felt real for both of them.

When they stopped for air, Baird and Sam looked into each other's eyes.

"Sam, I…" Baird was about express his true feelings for her, that he was falling in love with her, but she placed two fingers to his lips.

"Not now, Damon." Sam knew what Baird wanted to tell her, she felt the same way too. She was falling in love with him too, but wanted let their relationship grow first. "Let's wait."

She gently stroked his face. "I want to build our relationship first, I think it would mean more when we finally tell each those three words."

Baird smiled; he was fine with that. "Okay."

"But I know what our first thing we can do tonight as a couple." Sam started to smirk seductively.

Baird couldn't help but smirk back. "And that is…?" His voiced trailed off.

"Our first time having sex as a real couple." Sam wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"I like that idea." Baird replied.

As they kissed, they slowly removed their clothes and began to express their feelings to each other. It felt like the first time for both of them, it was real, it was genuine and it made them both feel alive.

As the night progressed and they fell asleep in each other's arms, they both knew they would never be alone again. And that no matter what happened from this night onward, they would have each other and a future filled with love and hope.

**Final Note:** Thank you to everyone for reading this story. And once again, this story is dedicated to Black-Fl0wer!


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